We have noted that during Training Camp and during the Scrimmage that the offense is not getting enough first downs. They are flaming out instead of “firing out” as Dan Guerrero likes to say. This was a big issue of course last season, when our offense was a horrible 87th best in the nation. We had an All-America kicker to hide some of the ugliness of the stalled drives, but we won’t have such a luxury this year. So when we see with our own eyes that the new Dorrell offense installed by Training Jay is stalling we start to get hives. Still, we know that with so many senior starters returning that this offense would get smoother and “make a move” as Dorrell is now fond of saying. Unfortunately, on the last day of Training Camp at Spaulding, Robert Kuwada of the OC Register reports that on 3rd down conversion drills the nightmare has not gone away:

The first offense had another dreadful period today, working in 3rd-and-long situations.

This is not good to hear. Still, Dorrell said this was the best camp he’s ever had and that team is farther along than he expected them to be. So we are taking Karl at his word and expect no excuses. Here are the results of the 3rd down conversion drills:

Play No. 1 The snap from center was low and rolled past quarterback Ben Olson.
Play No. 2 Tight end Logan Paulsen lined up incorrectly, then Olson floated a pass out to the left that was intercepted by safety Chris Horton.
Play No. 3 Cornerback Trey Brown stepped in front of an out, but missed picking off the pass. The ball popped into the air and was caught by the intended receiver, Brandon Breazell.
Play No. 4 Tailback Chris Markey was stopped for a 2-yard gain.
After the No. 2 offense ran a couple of plays, they were back at it.
Play No. 5 A pass to Breazell fell incomplete.
Play No. 6 Olson, working his way to his right, looked off an open Paulsen and threw a pass in coverage to Joe Cowan that fell incomplete.
Play No. 7 Terrence Austin was open crossing the middle of the field, but the pass was incomplete.

As the players themselves have said, No Excuses! Go Bruins!!

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Speedpost today folks, a few things to cover:

1. By now you may have read ESPN’s Pat Forde’s article on Karl Dorrell and the special year we all expect this season (HT Nestor at BruinsNation). The upshot of the article is Pat Forde’s undeniably fair assessment of Dorrell’s job performance thus far, noting that:
• “If Karl’s golf game is anything like his head-coaching career to date, he cards a bogey for every birdie.”
• “These Bruins have never seen a Pac-10 title up-close and personal.”
• “With 20 returning starters and a bunch of winnable road games, the time is now for UCLA to win back a share of Los Angeles and make a push into the national elite.”
• “In terms of schedule, this season sets up nicely.”
• The Bruins’ first five road games — Stanford, Utah, Oregon State, Washington State, Arizona — are against teams with an un-threatening 2006 average Sagarin rating of 50th.
2. Backup QB Patrick Cowan pulled up holding his left hamstring as he went out of bounds on a drill. Tests will be performed tomorrow. Bethel-Thompson has been made the #2 in his place. One reporter, Brian Dohn, prefers Bethel-Thompson as the #2 over Cowan.
3. From the Irony Department, WR coach Eric Scott made Ossar Rasshan shed his gloves for missing a wide open TD at the scrimmage Saturday. Eric Scott had this to say: “I have a rule, if you drop passes, you have to take your gloves off for at least the period. Sometimes, I’ll make them go without gloves the rest of the practice.”  Now that is some funny stuff right there. Hey Eric, the United States has a rule, don’t buy or carry unregistered weapons!!
4. Morning practice today was very lethargic according to a few reports. The afternoon session was better. Let’s hope the guys are well conditioned as they stated they were when Training Camp started. Stanford is next week.
5. “WR Osaar Rasshan didn’t practice in the night session because he is dealing with some after affects of the concussion he sustained last week.” - Brian Dohn.
6. Following up on our Scrimmage report on the sudden illness of Jerzy Siewierski’s grandfather Jack Turrentine at Drake, we are happy to pass along the report that although he is still in critical condition, Jerzy’s grandfather is feeling better and talking. Get well Jack.

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Editors Note: We will be accepting guest blogger posts this season so feel free to write something up when you feel like it and submit it to us. We can't promise we will put it on the front page but hey if you have something to say go ahead and say it. Here is Jake's take on the Scrimmage. We edited for formatting and subject headings.

I attended the Breakfast with the Burins event and then the scrimmage at Drake Stadium today, and I wanted to give you guys my impressions. read more

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Here are our notes on the Scrimmage played yesterday at Drake Stadium. It went on for 2 hours almost. Very hot sun. Announced attendance 6,700 + (can't be right, seems way too high). Numbers here are either announced or we tabulated them (so they could be off a little):

read more

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This year’s scrimmage is scheduled to take place this Saturday at Drake starting at 11 am. There will be 80 plays. There are some other events planned around it if you are interested. We cannot make it, so if any DDers are going to be there and want to do a write-up, please do and email it to us and we will post it.

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Now that the first week of training camp is in the books and the drama of the Scott arrest came to its foreseen conclusion, it’s time to get back to discussing football. Robert Kuwada, OC Register, filed an interesting if a little disconcerting report regarding the offense:

“The UCLA offense had more than a few problems last season, converting third downs into first downs being only one. So the Bruins could not have taken much out of the end of the morning practice session on Monday, other than they still need a lot of work moving the chains.

In a situational drill, the Bruins’ No. 1 offense, with quarterback Ben Olson, was 0 for 6 turning third-down plays into first downs.
The only conversions came from the No. 2 offense against the No. 2 defense.

Last season, UCLA ranked seventh in the Pac-10 in third down conversions, making only 66 of 183 (36.1 percent) and the Bruins ended up punting away the football 63 times, the fourth most in the conference.”

Not a good sign. As we said in our Training Camp report, we think the offense is going to need time to adjust, yet again, to a new set of plays. With the 4th OC in 5 years (one who has 0 experience calling plays) and the 4th OL in 5 years (one who appears to us to not be well-liked by the players) we EXPECT the offense to have problems early on. We are less than 3 weeks away from the away game at Stanford. And although it’s only Stanford, this lack of offensive production is a concern.

Injuries, as you know are starting to rack up. Could it be that the grass field not being ready for yet another year is the problem? Hard to say. But there are too many problems already occurring with injuries. Read more about who is out here, here, here, and here. Fortunately, as Dorrell has already reiterated, we have more depth this year than in a long time … his words. No Excuses! Go Bruins!!

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DumpDorrell was at Training Camp and we have some things to report. We will start with the positives, otherwise in no particular order:

The Good

• DeWayne Walker was impressive. This is the first time we saw him up close with the players for an extended time. It’s only drills and obviously just Day 3, but we were impressed by how he had his players focused on him and the drills. Of course, 2-a-days have nothing to do with game-planning or play-calling. Beating the spread and shoring up the secondary are still big concerns for Walker, as is the lack of depth on that side of the ball. But we liked what we saw of him up close, which will contrast with other coaches that we will get to later.
• Defense played with nice intensity, speed, athleticism and confidence, measurably more than the offense. They look good!
• The offense is definitely opening up this year and that is great to see. The offensive sets and drills were far more open than last year. Lots of shot gun, 3 and 4 receiver sets, open field passing, down field passing, play action, misdirection. If after 4 years of conservative, sphincter tightening run-run-pass-punt and hails of boos at the Rose Bowl Dorrell hadn’t figured it out then he would be all but signing his walking papers. So no credit to Dorrell for figuring out what everyone else already knew. Credit does go to OC Training Jay, how much … wait until the season starts.
• Kai Forbath is going to be a great college kicker. He had some nice kicks, under pressure. Had some blocked too but we wonder if that was intentional. Problem is Kai still looks nervous out there. He will miss some important attempts, which will put pressure on the offense and our first-year OC Training Jay. Still, Kai may be the next Dorrell All-America kicker.
• Ben Olson looked comfortable out there, and Cowen looked good too. They may not have looked like they are in their prime conditioning and game readiness, but we are going to be solid at the QB position this year.

The Bad read more

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Just a quick reminder that Training Camp 2007 opens Monday. If you are planning on going make sure you make it over to Men’s Gym to catch pick up games with Kevin Love and Chase Stanback, Ben Howland’s newest stars. Here is the part of the schedule that is open to the public according to Brian Dohn, Daily News:

Monday, August 6 - 3:00-5:00 p.m.

Tuesday, August 7 - 3:00-5:00 p.m.

Wednesday, August 8 - 3:00-5:00 p.m.

Thursday, August 9 - 3:00-5:00 p.m.

Friday, August 10 - 9:45-Noon (First day of full pads)

Saturday, August 11 - 9:15-11:30 a.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m.

Sunday, August 12 - 9:15-11:30 a.m.

Monday, August 13 - 9:00-11:15 a.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m.

Tuesday, August 14 - 9:00 -11:15 a.m.

Wednesday, August 15 - 9:15-11:30 a.m. and 7:30-9:00 p.m.

Thursday, August 16 - 9:45-Noon

Friday, August 17 - 9:15-11:30 a.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m.

Saturday, August 18 - 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Scrimmage at Drake Stadium)

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The quest for UCLA’s first Pac-10 conference title in the dreadful Dorrell era begins Monday, August 6 at Spaulding field when Training Camp opens, UCLA announced today according to Brian Dohn of the Daily News. If not now, when? That is the question that will be answered this season. Dorrell has no excuses.

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